Dynamic Duo : Once Bound For Hollywood, Identical Twins Warren, Weston Johnson Now Share the Spotlight On and Off the Football Field at Corona del Mar

If Wendy Johnson hadn’t grown tired of driving her twin sons to Hollywood several times a week for auditions and screen tests years ago, Warren and Weston Johnson might have become the rage among hunk-happy teeny-boppers.

Warren and Weston at the beach! Warren and Weston at the movies! Warren and Weston eating ice cream! The poster possibilities would have been endless.

As it happened, the Johnson twins, made famous--among friends and relatives at least--through appearances in music videos, hamburger commercials and on cereal boxes, turned their talents to sports.

For the past three years, the Warren and Weston Show has been a hit at Corona del Mar High School, be it the football field, basketball or volleyball courts.

Now seniors, the 17-year-old identical twins are hoping for the best football seasons of their lives. If they can top last season, their accomplishments will be impressive.

During the 1988 season, the wide receivers/defensive backs each had six interceptions during the regular season. Weston also had five in the playoffs, helping the Sea Kings to the Division VI championship and their first undefeated season, 12-0-2, in the school’s history.

On offense, where both backed up seniors, Warren had 28 receptions for 330 yards (a 11.8-yard average) and Weston had 14 for 312 (22-yard average).

Corona del Mar Coach Dave Holland, who has 30 years of coaching experience, 15 at Corona del Mar, calls the Johnsons “among the five top athletes I’ve ever coached.”

Tonight, they will try to help Corona del Mar extend the longest undefeated streak--14 games--in Orange County when the Sea Kings take on Huntington Beach at Huntington Beach. In last year’s game, it was Warren’s second-half touchdown catch that gave Corona del Mar a 7-0 victory.

Aside from their jersey numbers--Warren wears 45, Weston has 44--most say there are few differences between the brothers on the football field.

On defense, both have great pursuit and strong instincts. Offensively, Holland said, “They know how to get open and they just steal the ball away from the DBs (defensive backs).”

Off the field, there are very few differences between the brothers, too. Wendy Johnson had such a tough time discerning the two when they were babies that she painted one of Weston’s big toes with shiny clear nail polish.

Sitting in a Newport Beach coffee shop, their similarities--in voice, mannerisms and enthusiasm --are intriguing.

Both have sandy blond hair--though Warren says his is definitely less puffed up than his brother’s--and Warren’s face is a bit narrower.

“Just remember, I’m the bigger one,” said Warren, who spent extra time in the weight room during the summer to bulk his 6-foot-2 frame to 193 pounds. Weston, also 6-2, weighs 185.

“I’m also the older one,” said Weston, who had a two-minute jump on Warren into the world.

But the most obvious difference is the barely visible scar across Weston’s nose, the result of an accident with a glass magazine rack at age 1 1/2.

Asked if there are any other differences, the twins become quiet, before Warren turns to his brother and gives him an encouraging look.

Said Warren: “Weston, you gotta say it.”

Weston: “OK. OK. . . . I have a mole.”

Warren: “On his butt. “

Weston: “It’s a beauty mark.”

Warren: “It’s a mole.”

Weston: “So what? The girls love it.”

They burst into laughter, egging each other on as only brothers know how to do.

It’s easy to see why these boys once were sought by Hollywood agents.

The cereal box came first, although not intentionally.

Through the first nine years of their lives, Warren and Weston grew up next door to Hunter and Graham Pierce, another set of twins. They foursome became best friends. When the Pierces went to do a photo shoot for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, the Johnsons, then 3, tagged along.

During the shoot, Graham Pierce was unable to hold the cereal bowl the way the director wanted. He spilled the milk and started to cry. When he wouldn’t stop, the director saw Warren and Weston and the rest is history.

Next came a commercial for a fast-food hamburger restaurant, a series of commercials for the American Dental Association and an appearance by Warren as “Baby John” in the made-for-television movie “Eleanor and Franklin.”

(For the record, Weston says he got the part but because he had an encounter with a smoldering campfire pit days before the production, he had to turn the part over to his brother.)

But the highlight of their stardom, both agree, was their appearance in an Olivia Newton John music video, “Physical,” which aired in a 1984 television special.

“We stood there and looked weird, basically,” Warren said. The earnings from the video provided them the funds for luxury sports car that they share.

The question everyone asks--Have they ever switched places in school?--brings a smirk to their faces.

As freshmen they did it twice, once on Halloween and again on April Fool’s Day. The April Fools episode ended this way: Weston was pleased to tell Warren that he aced a surprise science quiz for his brother. Warren, who had acted up in class, got Weston a detention.

They say they haven’t tried since.

Their concentration now, as it is every fall, is on the football field. Three weeks into the season last year, Warren, who had three interceptions by that time, came down with mononucleosis. When Holland couldn’t decide on a replacement, Wendy Johnson charged in with some motherly advice.

“She said, ‘Hey, Weston can do anything Warren can do,” Holland said.

He took her advice and gave Weston his first start, against Santiago. Weston answered with three interceptions, including two he returned for touchdowns.

His goal this season is to have at least 10 interceptions. Warren said he wants one interception per game.

Either way, the Warren and Weston Show ought to be a blockbuster.